GRi Sports News Ghana 19 - 10 - 2000
E.T. Mensah halts Agrah's bluff
FIFA/CAF want Ghana to host World U-17 tourney
Okwawu through to ABC/FA Cup final
Djangmah wins
Prampram cycling race
Col Brock defends Olympic failure
E.T. Mensah halts Agrah's bluff
Accra (Greater Accra) 19 October 2000
Mr. Enoch Teye Mensah, Minister for Youth and Sports impressed Sportswriters on Tuesday when he forced Mr. Wolanyo Agrah, the General Secretary of the Ghana Football Association (GFA) to apologise to Mr. Emmanuel Amoako, Secretary of the Sports Writers Association of Ghana, (SWAG).
The incident happened at the Meet-the-Press Series of the Sports Ministry at the Accra Sports Stadium.
The Minister had called on Mr. Agrah to react to a question asked by Mr. Amoako in relation to a 450, 000 dollars grant from the Confederation of African Football, (CAF) to cushion Ghana's financial obligations for the co-hosting of CAN 2000.
Instead of providing tangible answers to the question, Mr. Agrah told the SWAG scribe to "shut up", thus drawing murmurs from the large number of journalists present.
Mr. Amoako protested against the conduct of the GFA Secretary and insisted that he retracted his arrogant statement.
While Mr. Agrah tried to prove tough, the Minister said, "I heard it, you must retract the statement. He is the secretary of SWAG ". This brought Mr. Agrah to his knees.
At that juncture Mr. Agrah mellowed and said, " I am sorry. I retract the statement".
Reacting to Mr. Amoako's question the GFA secretary said "the financial statement is ready and anybody who cared can come for it at any time"
He did not give any details of the report.
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FIFA/CAF want Ghana to host World U-17
tourney
Accra (Greater Accra) 19 October 2000
The Confederation of Africa Football (CAF) and FIFA have requested the Ghana Football Association (GFA) to slot in their bid to host the 2003 World FIFA/JVC under-17 soccer championships.
The request was sequel to the excellent organisation and government support during the Africa under-20 soccer tournament and the co-hosting of the 22nd Africa Cup of Nations.
Mr. Enoch Teye Mensah, Minister of Youth and Sports said this when he took his turn at the meet-the-press series at the Accra Sports Stadium on Tuesday.
A week-long programme on it started on Monday with the commissioning of a 900 million-cedi building of the ministry and a photo exhibition mounted at the north wing of the new stands at the stadium.
Tuesday's press conference touched on a wide range of issues including the national youth policy, the proposed multipurpose Olympic size stadium and the achievement of the ministry over the past 10 years.
Mr. Mensah said even though the country is one of the leading sporting nations in Africa, Ghana does not have the requisite facilities to host games comprising various events like the all Africa games and Commonwealth games.
He said in order to resolve the problem, government has initiated a programme to solicit funding from external sources to construct a sports complex at Nungua, off the Accra - Tema motorway.
The Minster said as at January this year, preparatory work on the project had reached the engineering stage and it is expected that, the ministry would soon mount financial road shows to solicit assistance to fund the project.
He mentioned the rehabilitation of the Accra and Kumasi Sports Stadiums, the construction of the synthetic hockey pitch (Astro-Turf), hosting of the under-20 and co-hosting the CAN 2000 as some of the modest achievements of the ministry.
The minister later launched a brochure on his achievements from 1990 to the present, titled: "Upliftment of the decade".
The programme continues on Thursday with a visit to the National Youth Centre at Kaneshie, the Afienya Youth Leadership Institute and ends on Friday with a tour at the National Sports College, Winneba.
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Okwawu through to ABC/FA Cup final
Accra (Greater Accra) 19 October 2000
Okwawu United beat Obuasi Goldfields by 6-5 on penalties at the Accra Sports Stadium on Wednesday to qualify for the grand finale of the ABC/FA Knockout competition.
By this victory Okwawu have qualified to meet the winner of Accra Hearts of Oak versus Dawu Youngsters match, which was rescheduled to Thursday at the same venue because of Power failure.
When hostilities began under the guidance of Class one referee Jacob Quarshie, it was Goldfields who took the fight to their opponents as they strung passes and threatened Okwawu repeatedly, but goalkeeper, Joseph Aryetey stood his ground with some spectacular saves.
In the 25th minute Aryetey saved a grass cutter of a shot from close range thereby denying Abdulai Sylla the opportunity to score.
Okwahu responded swiftly and in the 33rd minute Asare Nyarko made a great run down the right flank but his shot missed narrowly.
Goalkeeper Aryetey came to the rescue again for Okwawu, when he dived full length, to tip a powerful shot from James Boateng to corner in the 39th minute.
Both sides failed to convert any of their chances till the end of the first half.
When the second half began, Okwawu showed more commitment and swarmed the territory of Goldfields, looking for the leader.
In the 49th minute, Nii Ayi Tetteh's glancing header grazed the top of the upright and veered into touch.
Nii Ayi came close again in the 66th minute when he volleyed wide in front of a yawning Goalfields net after keeper Rasheed Campaore had committed himself by moving off his line.
In the 82nd minute, Okwawu pushed a ball into the net for what looked like a goal, but the jubilation of the players and fans was short lived as the referee upheld the flag decision of his first assistant, FIFA referee Joseph Mensah for off side positioning.
At the other end, Yaw Owusu came within scoring range in the 85th minute but his powerful shot missed narrowly.
At the end of regulation time during which both teams failed to score, the penalty rule was invoked and Okwawu converted six, as against five by Goaldfields.
Substitute Aminu Musah fluffed the sixth chance for Goldfields when his effort was thwarted by a brilliant save from Joseph Aryetey, while Isaac Asante converted for Okwawu to send their fans into wild jubilation and a date in the prestigious ABC/FA Knockout final.
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Djangmah wins
Prampram cycling race
Prampram (Greater Accra) 19
October 2000
The Ningo-Prampram constituency of
the NDC on Tuesday concluded its series of Homowo bicycle racing with Mr.
Emmanuel Djangmah of Dawhenya emerging as the winner of the 95 km race.
For his prize Mr. Djangmah took
home a trophy, 100,000 cedis cash, a wall clock and cycling jersey from Mr
David Yankey, Marketing Supervisor of Beverage Investments Limited producers of
Pepsi Cola which sponsored the race in which 36 cyclists participated.
Mr. Djangmah who led the race from
the start clocked two hours, nine minutes and 45 seconds in the competition
which took them from Prampram to Dawhenya, Mataheko, Michel Camp, Ashaiman
roundabout and back to Prampram.
Mr. Benard Torgbor of Prampram
placed second in a time, two hours 20 minutes and 55 seconds for a prize of
80,000 cedis and wall clock. Mr. Tetteh
Larbi of Afienya, the defending champion, came third in two hours 30 minutes
and 15 seconds. He received 60,000
cedis and a clock.
Mr. Tetteh Djan Abbey from
Prampram had 50,000 cedis and a clock for placing fourth with a time of two
hours 33 minutes and 20 seconds. The
fifth to tenth positions received consolation prizes of 20,000 cedis each.
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Accra (Greater Accra) 19 October 2000
The International Olympics Committee (IOC) would under an Olympics African Project assist the Ghana Olympics Committee (GOC) with 350,000 dollars next year for the provision of facilities.
The idea is to get the country's representatives at the 2004 Olympics games in Athens, Greece, adequately prepared before its kick-starts.
Mr. Benson T. Baba, President of the GOC told the GNA Sports in an interview that in addition, the IOC is to provide a mini bus and international scholarships to five of the country's athletes from 2001 to 2004.
He said four other scholarships, two each to athletes under the age of 18 and coaches are to be made available to enhance the country's chances of winning medals at the Athens games.
Mr. Baba said a technical course in 12 disciplines would be added to the package.
He said the GOC is in touched with the authorities of the University of Ghana, Legon, to release of land for the construction of a sports hall with the grant.
The President said however that the GOC would still need support from sponsors both locally and internationally for the modern sports hall project.
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Col Brock defends Olympic failure
Accra (Greater Accra) 19 October 2000
The International Games Management Committee on Wednesday broke their long silence after Ghana's dismal performance at the just ended Sydney Olympics games with a "highly-tensed" press conference at the Accra Sports Stadium.
Top of the three-hour conference was the disqualification of one of the nation's boxing hopes, James Toney.
The Chef de Mission of the contingent, Colonel George Brock, blamed Toney for his bizarre behaviour at the medical examination. "Tonney had taken part in several international competitions and the procedure at the Sydney games was not new to him, "therefore did not need a especial escort to follow him," he said.
The Chef de Mission said each of the five boxers including Tonney who went for the weigh-in was asked whether everything was alright after the exercise, to which they all responded in the affirmative.
He said however, that it was at the games village that Charles Adamu, one of the boxers, approached Colonel John Sharpe, Chairman of the Ghana Amateur Boxing Association (GABA) and the team manager for the boxers that, he had found Toney's medical book on his (Toney's) bed.
When Toney was questioned why he had brought the medical book to the Village, all he could say was that "I am confused".
He said the Ghanaian officials rushed back to the medical examination centre but it was too late since the draw had already been completed.
Colonel Brock said after further investigations, it was revealed that the boxer's blood pressure was too high and had been advised to rest for 30 minutes before proceeding on the exercise "but strangely enough Toney failed to convey the message to the us".
Re-acting to an earlier interview by Reuters in which Col Sharpe was alleged to have said hat the boxer could not wait for 10 minutes because he was too hungry, Col Sharpe responded in the affirmative and added that his assertion was based the boxer's previous behaviour at an earlier competition.
He further lambasted the young boxer describing him as "indisciplined" while Col. Brock cited an instance during a reception held in their honour by the Ghanaian Embassy in Australia where he alleged that the boxer was seen drinking beer.
But the press conference nearly turned confrontational when Commander (rtd) Abraham K. Johnson, Vice Chairman of the GABA who was axed from the contingent, took the floor to counter some of the allegation levelled against Toney.
The Commander said Toney was a "stuck" illiterate and an official should have been asked to accompany him and if that was not possible a note could have been sent to the medical officer.
He said according to the rules of the International Amateur Boxing Federation, an official is allowed to accompany a boxer during medical examination and therefore could not understand why Toney was left alone.
But Brock quoted extensively from the rules of the game, which said among other things that only the competitor was allowed into the official check-in medical area.
However, Commander Johnson stood his ground and said it was wrong for the boxer to be blamed all alone for his disqualification and debunked the statement that the boxer was indisciplined.
"I have known Toney for years, and I have travelled with him to many competitions and it is rather unfortunate that Colonel Sharpe should describe him as indisciplined".
Reacting to a news paper report that Joe Kwarteng an official of the Ministry of Youth and Sports was accredited as one of team's doctors, Col Brock said it was true and added that it was strategic to make up the number given by the GOC.
He said he needed some one to assist him during the games since he had to attend several official meetings.
On why some officials arrived at the games village three days to the end of the games, Col Brock said the officials were sent to bring in some items. He however refused to state what the items were and the names of the officials.
Prior to that Col Brock had told the conference that Ghana's triple and high jumper Andy Owusu, contested for a place on the Executive Board of the IOC but he arrived late to campaign hence his inability to fare well during the elections.
He said even though Owusu could not win the slot, it had opened many doors for future elections.
Col Brock refuted newspaper reports that Coach S. S. Attuahene was held hostage in Amsterdam. He explained that since the coach was instrumental in getting the athletes to Amsterdam for the training programme, he had to wait to assist in the settling of the bills.
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